Political Thuggery and Insecurity in Nigeria (2015 – 2021)

Abstract

Political thuggery is the intentional use of physical force threatened against another person that either result in injury, death,  psychological harm within a Political circle. In recent time, the Nigerian political system has witnessed increased political thuggery and at  the same time experienced rising insecurity ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery, ritual killings, terrorism etc these has created a lot  of concerns both at the national, regional and international level. Based on the aforementioned this paper examined Political thuggery  and insecurity in Nigeria, 2015-2021. The paper utilized Elite theory as its theoretical framework and relied on secondary sources of data  from books, journal articles, periodicals, newspaper, working paper and magazines. Data collated were analyzed using content analysis  and the findings revealed that; there is a link between political thuggery and insecurity in Nigeria, this is because political thuggery  provides a breeding ground for kidnapping, terrorism, ritual killings, armed robbery, and drug addiction and all these threatens the  safety of citizens and the country as a whole, thus recommended stiff penalty for both the politician and the thug, establish a mechanism  for demobilizing, recovering weapons, reorientation of the thugs and politicians, and proper education. The paper concluded that  political thuggery is responsible for the rising insecurity in Nigeria.